Doesn't this belong to psychology? That science deals with minds and how people cooperate.
– rus9384May 13 '18 at 20:51

1

Good question. I would say sociology may be the discipline to study this. Speaking of the hippies, before WWI in Germany there was the Wandervogel, kind of a hippie movement of it's time, but of course not exactly the same. I would guess that there had been an increase in birthrate and just a lot of young people who wanted to throw off the past. They wanted something new, most of them, and out to nature they went.
– GordonMay 14 '18 at 1:53

Movements are formed when someone feels they are different than everyone else, and strongly believe that difference is what is keeping them back from success. They then convince others who are on fringe thought, or are otherwise easily classified into this new category they invented or are piggy-backing, to push on to others. The more crazies you add to the mix, the more dangerous this group becomes - and thus, the less "equal".
– Kraang PrimeMay 14 '18 at 10:55

@KraangPrime That's an okay explanation. Since I don't think anyone rational would join a movement, were they not genuinely believing that they can benefit from doing so. For example marxism probably developed and lives out of necessity of the people wanting to believe in marxist theses. That is, they believe that they can gain something from marxist theses.
– mavaviljMay 14 '18 at 11:11

That is correct mavavilj. You can apply the concept to pretty much any movement that has every existed (and likely to all future movements). The precept is to sell people your idea by playing on their concepts of what they feel is right/wrong - their values. Once a basic understanding can be established, it is more proving to them that you can solve their problem if they just did this one easy thing (a march, a large group, etc). Adding in supportive measures like using the aid of children usually garners more support than something like cell phone bills should be cheaper.
– Kraang PrimeMay 14 '18 at 11:18

2 Answers
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This has to do with human nature. Despite the fact that reality is incredibly nuanced and infinitely complex, we as humans like to be able to categorize our own self and things or people around us. Saying that you subscribe to a particular ideologue gives one a certain sense of stability, which is something all humans crave.

As much as we might like to say that everyone is creative, unique, and can thing for themselves, it is unfortunately not true. The few people who are able to be creative, and think independently gain followings for those who are not. It is very easy to be persuaded by someone with a well thought out ideology, it is very hard to come up with that well thought out ideology.

Having a society that functions this way does benefit from an increase in "order" within itself.

To answer the last part of your question:
It's not really a matter of realization, but more of being convinced. There are very few beliefs that come from belonging to a movement that cannot be logically disputed, and it is very easy to change your mind on such matters.

"It is very easy to be persuaded by someone with a well thought out ideology" - only if that ideology matches at least in part ones own belief system, else it is met with tremendous resistance, and usually rejected. If the ideology is a match, or there is some reward at the end which the person being convinced , agrees with (like "legalize" marijuana - in other words "i wanna get high so give me drugs"), would garner support from those who agree with the end goal in an ends justifies the means (eg, electing someone who screws up everything else to "legalize it")
– Kraang PrimeMay 14 '18 at 10:59

Another way of putting this question, why do some ideas create a consensus of outlook, with an agreed set of goals?

Movements identify a set of ideas or precepts which characterise the situation. They then propose a set of attitude solutions.

As people become aquainted with the ideas, their thinking and discussion points gather around the subjects and start to fill out the wider universe of consequences. Soon this group becomes larger as more are sucked in and a movement is born. You see this happening all the time, simply because it takes time a effort to go from introduction, acceptance, analysis, experience, expansion, disillusionment, alternatives, cynicism, new ideas.

We are linear in our thinking so the process can take 5 minutes or years, and the level of dedication from jokes to committed life threatening cause.

Some have argued critical thinking is the best weapon against the downside of movements, so the cycle is shortened between the propaganda to seeing the truth or how it works out.

What do you do when a movement pushes and passes law that requires those who are not part of said movement to use specific speach and/or to think a certain way -- under punishment of law ? I feel that said movement has gone beyond the bounds of any form of sanity as well as those who allow such acts to occur. All under the guise of "equality". [ Consider: A room with 5 birds all exactly the same -- one starts chirping and pecks at the other birds if they try to chirp. Is this equal ? Or a dictatorship ? ]
– Kraang PrimeMay 14 '18 at 11:03

There is a problem people are addressing. The problem is we all have value, and some feel very damaged and confused. Laws do not change this reality, education, support, care, exposure to different social groups does. Both sides lack this exposure and polarise positions before recognising the strengths and weaknesses of both positions. As soon as the law is used, it is just provocative acts of those who feel it is a power issue, and desire to take control, which makes it into a real power issue. Ironic. You do not fight dictatorship with dictatorship.
– PeterJensMay 14 '18 at 11:34

Whether or not we all have value, that in itself is a set of values which could be debated. The notion of a few rising above making lots of noise because their ostracization from fringe groups is more important than other ostracized groups or individuals, is asinine and in and of itself cause of imbalance. Growing up through the 80's, i didn't even learn about 'color' or 'sex' or whatever strange and bizzarre range of alleged problems that groups are popping up every other second to address today.
– Kraang PrimeMay 14 '18 at 11:55